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When a WebObjects adaptor receives a request from the server, it repackages the request in a standard WebObjects format and forwards it to an appropriate WebObjects application. As shown in Figure 2, all WebObjects adaptors communicate with WebObjects applications in the same way, but they communicate with HTTP servers using whatever interface is provided by a particular server. For example, the WebObjects CGI adaptor uses the Common Gateway Interface, and the Netscape Interface adaptor uses the Netscape Server API. Thus, WebObjects adaptors can take advantage of server-specific interfaces but still provide server-independence.
The Common Gateway Interface is supported by all HTTP servers, so you can use the WebObjects CGI adaptor with any server---including those that are publicly available. As performance demands increase, you can use the Netscape Interface adaptor with a server that supports the Netscape Server API. The Netscape Server API eliminates the overhead of starting a new process for each request by dynamically loading the Netscape Interface adaptor. As shown in Figure 3, the communication between the Netscape Interface adaptor and the HTTP server occurs inside a single process.
By default, WebObjects uses the WebObjects CGI adaptor. For more information on configuring this adaptor or the Netscape Interface adaptor, see the "Serving WebObjects" document.